Charting the Divide Between Common and Civil Law

What does it mean when civil lawyers and common lawyers think differently? In Charting the Divide between Common and Civil Law, Thomas Lundmark provides a comprehensive introduction to the uses, purposes, and approaches to studying civil and common law in a comparative legal framework.

Superbly organized and exhaustively written, this volume covers the jurisdictions of Germany, Sweden, England and Wales, and the United States, and includes a discussion of each country's legal issues, structure, and their general rules. Professor Lundmark also explores the discipline of comparative legal studies, rectifying many of the misconceptions and prejudices that cloud our understanding of the divide between the common law and civil law traditions.

Students of international law, comparative law, social philosophy, and legal theory will find this volume a valuable introduction to common and civil law. Lawyers, judges, political scientists, historians, and philosophers will also find this book valuable as a source of reference. Charting the Divide between Common and Civil Law equips readers with the background and tools to think critically about different legal systems and evaluate their future direction.

Offers an in-depth analysis of legal culture in common and civil law countries, including philosophical and methodical aspects

Examines law in Germany, the UK, Sweden, and the U.S., and uses the rich academic tradition of Germany as a benchmark against which other legal systems are measured

Identifies significant variations in the size of the judiciaries and of the role of lay judges and juries in the jurisdictions studied

Provides the reader with an analytical matrix through which to compare the four jurisdictions under study

Explores the contention that lawyers in other jurisdictions "think" differently about the law and offers results of a survey asking this quesion